brake cleaner or alcohol

[canuck4570]

dish soap it is

 

[tg]

"I just snap a cap and run a dry patch through before shooting. That's the only prep needed."

I tried that but the caps kept falling out of the jaws of the lock on my Fusil.

 

[necchi]

when you say soapy hot water,

Thanks fer askin, but I didn't say soapy hot water.
I said warm soapy water( that ain't really how ya spell soapy is it? )
Anyway's Huntin said it,, a couple (as in 2) drops of dish soap in a gallon of water. I'm currently using " Ultra Concentrated DAWN PLUS Bleach-mountain freash". Why? cause I like Dawn for it's grease cutting abilities,,it's was on sale,,it's not anti- microble and it leaves my skin "touchably" soft,(and the mountain freash thing? well that sucked me right in!) :haha:. But really, any dish soap, I use a 5 gal bucket with enough water to go maybe an inch or two over the nipple hole and 2 drops of liquid soap.

 

[canuck4570]

good humor
why not look good and smell nice when hunting,
SOAPE WOULD BE BETTER

 

[roundball]

"...I was told that if you run only a dry patch through before shooting it does not remove ( in my case the wd 40 ) that I use before storing my muzzleloader and upon shooting will cook a nasty deposit in the barrel causing rapid fowling in the following shots !..."

You did well posting that for clarification, as its completely false.

For example, reality is after I clean a barrel with steaming hot soapy water and a hot water rinse, I get the bore bone dry, then run a large size dripping, sloppy wet WD40 patch up and down the bore several times, then rack the Flintlock muzzle down.

Next time I go to the range or hunting, I dry patch the bore, wipe off the frizzen/pan/flint with one of those little disposable foil wrapped alcohol wipes, then shoot my entire range session without having to wipe between shots at all.

 

[canuck4570]

that is what I have been doing
I guess its my ball and patch combo and in my case more on the lube side....
I have been using bee wax and olive oil, will try different amount on the patch
is it better to have a very greasy patch or just a bit?

 

[roundball]

The single most important ingredient to minimizing the effects of fouling is moisture in the bore.

Moisture is needed to keep the fouling so soft that the next time you seat a patched ball the patch wipes the bore clean as it goes down. Then you fire a shot and you have a single shot's worth of new fouling on the bore walls again. Seat the next patch and wipe it off, the cycle repeats, etc, etc, etc.

For that to happen, moisture has to get into the bore to keep that fouling soft one of two ways:
Either by the fouling sucking it out of damp humid air if that happens to be the conditions at the time you're shooting.....or, the lube has to have sufficient moisture in it to produce the same results as damp humid air...ie: the more liquid the lube, the more readily you'll be able to shoot without wiping between shots at all.

Greasy bore butter patches are great for hunting...similar to yours mine happens to be Natural Lube 1000. But for range shooting where a patch won't be setting on powder very long, several liquid or semi-liquid lubes work great...I happen to use Hoppes No9 PLUS BP...glistening wet patches let me shoot 50 shots without wiping and the bore is still so clean when I'm done there's barely get a trace of color out of the bore when I'm back at the house cleaning up.

Moisture is the key.
If the air doesn't have enough moisture in it for the hydroscopic properties of BP residue to start drawing it into the bore immediately after a shot, then patch lube has to be fairly damp/wet...whether spit or a commercial version.

 

[jtmattison]

I tried that but the caps kept falling out of the jaws of the lock on my Fusil.

Try using thicker leather/lead to wrap it.

:haha:

On my flintlocks all I do is run a dry patch through it to remove oil. There's no bolster or nipple to hold oil.

HD

 

[Stumpkiller]

I and a friend where talking about cleaning our muzzleloader ether after shooting to remove the powder fowling or before to remove the protective oil that we put to store the gun.....
he personally uses BRAKE CLEANER,
Is this a good idea ?


an other question for you, what king of alcohol do you use to remove the protective oil that you use just before shooting your muzzleloader rubbing or the regular kind ?

One caution of the brake cleaner, or carb cleaner/gum cutter types of spray solvents. They will eat the finish off your stock toot suite. Make sure you take precautions to protect the stock from overspray or runoff out the vent/nipple. Once a year I hit mine with 2+2 Gum Cutter as part of my post hunting season thorough clean up.

I use 91% Isopropyl alcohol to wipe. Rubbing alcohol is 30% to 50% water.

 

[canuck4570]

The single most important ingredient to minimizing the effects of fouling is moisture in the bore.

Moisture is needed to keep the fouling so soft that the next time you seat a patched ball the patch wipes the bore clean as it goes down. Then you fire a shot and you have a single shot's worth of new fouling on the bore walls again. Seat the next patch and wipe it off, the cycle repeats, etc, etc, etc.

For that to happen, moisture has to get into the bore to keep that fouling soft one of two ways:
Either by the fouling sucking it out of damp humid air if that happens to be the conditions at the time you're shooting.....or, the lube has to have sufficient moisture in it to produce the same results as damp humid air...ie: the more liquid the lube, the more readily you'll be able to shoot without wiping between shots at all.

Greasy bore butter patches are great for hunting...similar to yours mine happens to be Natural Lube 1000. But for range shooting where a patch won't be setting on powder very long, several liquid or semi-liquid lubes work great...I happen to use Hoppes No9 PLUS BP...glistening wet patches let me shoot 50 shots without wiping and the bore is still so clean when I'm done there's barely get a trace of color out of the bore when I'm back at the house cleaning up.

Moisture is the key.
If the air doesn't have enough moisture in it for the hydroscopic properties of BP residue to start drawing it into the bore immediately after a shot, then patch lube has to be fairly damp/wet...whether spit or a commercial version.

I will remember this in playing with patches wetness next time at the range and the golden rule ( its the moisture that count's )

 

[canuck4570]

I and a friend where talking about cleaning our muzzleloader ether after shooting to remove the powder fowling or before to remove the protective oil that we put to store the gun.....
he personally uses BRAKE CLEANER,
Is this a good idea ?


an other question for you, what king of alcohol do you use to remove the protective oil that you use just before shooting your muzzleloader rubbing or the regular kind ?

One caution of the brake cleaner, or carb cleaner/gum cutter types of spray solvents. They will eat the finish off your stock toot suite. Make sure you take precautions to protect the stock from overspray or runoff out the vent/nipple. Once a year I hit mine with 2+2 Gum Cutter as part of my post hunting season thorough clean up.

I use 91% Isopropyl alcohol to wipe. Rubbing alcohol is 30% to 50% water.

will stay away from brake cleaner and will by denatured alcohol

 

[thewho66]

I Agee 100 percent with that. I will clean a certain .22 rifle with break cleaner to get all of the built up crud out, but I forgot to take the stock off and now have to re- finnish that fire arms stock to get it looking like new. :redface: :cursing: :shake: :nono:

Do not use break cleaner for anly thing other than metal and make damn sure to get any wood away from the spray.

John

 

[canuck4570]

I Agee 100 percent with that. I will clean a certain .22 rifle with break cleaner to get all of the built up crud out, but I forgot to take the stock off and now have to re- finnish that fire arms stock to get it looking like new. :redface: :cursing: :shake: :nono:

Do not use break cleaner for anly thing other than metal and make damn sure to get any wood away from the spray.

John

specialy for my tiger maple stock..
thank for the warning.....

 

[pichou]

I read that denatured alcohol was used at Sandhurst before inspections, to get any oil or grime out and leave the surface shiny. Clean, but not protected.

But as always, no matter what you use, cleaning and cleaning again is best. Crud creeps out when you aren't paying attention, and rust creeps in.

OBTW, oil does not "dry out" unless it has water in it. It polymerizes. :wink:

 

[Golfswithwolves]

The single most important ingredient to minimizing the effects of fouling is moisture in the bore.

Moisture is needed to keep the fouling so soft that the next time you seat a patched ball the patch wipes the bore clean as it goes down. Then you fire a shot and you have a single shot's worth of new fouling on the bore walls again. Seat the next patch and wipe it off, the cycle repeats, etc, etc, etc.

For that to happen, moisture has to get into the bore to keep that fouling soft one of two ways:
Either by the fouling sucking it out of damp humid air if that happens to be the conditions at the time you're shooting.....or, the lube has to have sufficient moisture in it to produce the same results as damp humid air...ie: the more liquid the lube, the more readily you'll be able to shoot without wiping between shots at all.

Greasy bore butter patches are great for hunting...similar to yours mine happens to be Natural Lube 1000. But for range shooting where a patch won't be setting on powder very long, several liquid or semi-liquid lubes work great...I happen to use Hoppes No9 PLUS BP...glistening wet patches let me shoot 50 shots without wiping and the bore is still so clean when I'm done there's barely get a trace of color out of the bore when I'm back at the house cleaning up.

Moisture is the key.
If the air doesn't have enough moisture in it for the hydroscopic properties of BP residue to start drawing it into the bore immediately after a shot, then patch lube has to be fairly damp/wet...whether spit or a commercial version.

This seems like a great range-shooting tip; one that I was too dumb to realize :hmm: and also one that I will try next time at the range!

 

[Joel/Calgary]

I use 91% Isopropyl alcohol to wipe. Rubbing alcohol is 30% to 50% water.

will stay away from brake cleaner and will by denatured alcohol

Michel, pure methanol is widely available and inexpensive up here as "gas-line antifreeze", "fondue fuel", "lacquer thinner", or "Methyl Hydrate" in many stores, and in sizes up to 4l/1gal. in most Canadian Tire or hardware stores. I go through a fair bit to clean the water or oil (depending on when I'm using it) out of the patent breeches, mixed in my winter patch-lube/bore cleaner, as a cleaning solvent, as fuel in my low-tech backpack and survival stoves, and for gas-line antifreeze. Versatile stuff.

BTW, if you cannot find Ballistol locally, there is a Canadian distributor with a website that you can order from. Also versatile stuff.

Regards,
Joel

 

[canuck4570]

Link
I got thiner lacquer,
ballistol link above for you who don't have it

 

[canuck4570]

My friend just made an experience,
he put some WD40 on a piece of glass and tried different cleaning agent to see which one got rid of the WD40
Lighter fluid got rid of it just a bit but stayed a bit gooey
lacker thinner yes but took a long time to evaporate and let residue.
90% rubbing alcohol took everything off and dried of quickly
this was done to see which would be better to clean our muzzleloader before shooting....
forgot to mention it was the same for oil

 

[Many Klatch]

MM I don't know about the rest but I find that a 1/2 mix of 2 stroke motor oil and kerosene will protect the bore of my guns just fine. It also burns up when I shoot without leaving any gunk. I like it because it's cheap and it works.

Many Klatch

 

[Old40Rod]

For cleaning, I use COOL water and a few squirts of whatever soap, windex or 409 is handy. You don't need much soap. Hot or warm water will likely give you flash rusting.

I use Breakfree for storage, and run a rubbing alcohol soaked patch or two down the barrel before shooting... never had a problem.